Blake Young was back on his workout bike on Tuesday, getting in shape for this weekend's Superbike races at Infineon Raceway in California.

Normally that would be no big deal -- if not for the bandage on his left hand, the one protecting a partially amputated pinkie finger.

Young lost the finger above the top knuckle following a crash at the Honda Superbike Classic at Barber Motorsports Park a week and a half ago. On the second lap Young went into the hairpin turn known as Charlotte's Web with a wad of other bikes, including Mat Mladin, his teammate at Rockstar Makita Suzuki.

Mladin pulled off a pass on Josh Hayes to grab the lead but Hayes ended up getting pushed into Young, who wasn't backing off through the turn. They made contact, Young's front wheel locked up and he hit the pavement.

"I got my hand caught when the handlebar hit the track," Young said.

It was just for a second, but long enough to mangle the pinkie finger and damage the ring finger of his left hand.

"I looked down and it was pretty bad," he said.

Young leaped up and sprinted over to a nearby ambulance. He was taken to UAB Hospital where the wound was thoroughly cleaned and he was told to see a hand specialist in Louisville.

The first plan was to sew the two damaged fingers together long enough to get blood flowing again to the pinkie finger.

"The problem was I was missing a lot of skin," Young said. So the top of the finger was amputated at the top knuckle.

The fingers are still bandaged and he just recently stopped taking post-surgery medication but Young is determined to be back on his Suzuki for the two races this weekend at Infineon.

"It only throbs every now and then," he said.

In order to race he's going to need a custom glove that his team is working on -- one that can accommodate the bandaged fingers inside.

He doesn't anticipate he'll be up front challenging Mladin for the lead this weekend but he doesn't expect the bandaged fingers to be much of a liability.

"The pinkie finger doesn't do a whole lot other than hang onto to handlebar," he said.

He said he thought briefly about sitting out at Infineon but sees no reason now why he can't race, especially since "there's obviously racers that have had worse injuries and have come back."

The team, he said, is leaving the decision about when to return entirely up to him.

"The team wants me to take my time and come back when I'm ready. They're definitely not rushing me," he said.

But he does realize that another crash could have serious consequences.

"Definitely, if there's another crash there's a chance of it getting worse," he said. "It's always going to be in the back of my mind trying to protect the finger."

But he also knows that if he is going to continue what has so far been a promising start to his Superbike career he can't let the injury give him a moment's hesitation.

"Psychologically you can't," he said. "Otherwise you're not going to last long on a motorcycle."

At the very least, he's already able to joke about it.

"It's definitely a bummer missing a digit," he said. "Now I can only count to nine."